Games that haven't aged well

Blisterman

Some games are as fresh nowadays as they always were: Super Mario, Pac Man, etc.

But not every game is like this. Some games were great, and hugely popular when they first came out, but playing them nowadays, you realise that they're nowhere near as good as they once seemed.

So, what games do you think have aged badly?

I'd have to go with Goldeneye for the N64, Tomb Raider and virtually any 3D racing game prior to the late 90's.

Ross_Mahon

I was playing Goldeneye on the pc there last night, and i was using the normal xbox controller, i configured the buttons like an xbox fps. It was actually really enjoyable.

GhostInTheRuins

Don't forget Mario 64

IceHawk

Half Life. After playing HL2 I went back for a replay, but my god, it looks crap. Can't wait for Black Mesa: Source
People are going to kill me for this, but Final Fantasy 7 and 8 look terrible after playing 10 and 12

astrofool

Mario 64 has aged quite well imo, the simple flat colours it uses means it will always be about the gameplay.

The original Panzer Dragoon looks horrible now, but I remember thinking wow back in the Saturn days, last played when unlocked after finishing Orta, and it was like watching a mangled triangle slide show.

L31mr0d

the first gen of 3D games did not age well at all. Anything released between 98 and 02 really

Mark Hamill

IceHawk wrote: »

People are going to kill me for this, but Final Fantasy 7 and 8 look terrible after playing 10 and 12

I agree with you about 8, I think the character spirites (in and out of battle) look like cardboard cutouts, but I think the sprites in 7 (in battle anyway) haven't aged too badly (the kept them simpler in 7 than 8, so I think they get away with it).

chin_grin

The original DooM series. Fantastic games, but now dated compared to the moist-trouser inducing Doom 3

IvyTheTerrible

The first Grand Theft auto...the overhead view etc looks very dated when compared to the new ones.

chin_grin

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

The first Grand Theft auto...the overhead view etc looks very dated when compared to the new ones.

Is it a crime to prefer the old GTA's to the newest releases? I tried to get in to the franchise I really did!

EDIT: Mortal Kombat..........there's a game that was amazing when it came out (WOW! REAL PEOPLE! WTF.....etc) But then got a little tedious and faded in to the background with Street Fighter owning the Beat Em Up title.

Retr0gamer

chin_grin wrote: »

The original DooM series. Fantastic games, but now dated compared to the moist-trouser inducing Doom 3

Didn't think much of Doom 3, found it samey and boring. The original Doom however is an absolute timeless classic, still play it to this day especially in co-op.

I'd have to go with Goldeneye having aged pretty badly. The framerate is awful, rendering it near unplayable, and it has been surpassed totally by other better games. I'd actually include a lot of N64 games here for the framerate reason, when you are used to at least 25 fps 5-10 is pretty awful.

To the person who said Mario 64, you should be shot.

I'd also have to add that the PS2 GTA games are going to age incredibly badly. They look horrible and even looked crap when they were released. The driving engine is great but the AI and on foot shooting sections are absolutely atrocious and have been surpassed by games already. Only for the fact that GTA offers so much more than the competition it hasn't been surpassed.

corcaigh07

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Didn't think much of Doom 3, found it samey and boring. The original Doom however is an absolute timeless classic, still play it to this day especially in co-op.

I'd have to go with Goldeneye having aged pretty badly. The framerate is awful, rendering it near unplayable, and it has been surpassed totally by other better games. I'd actually include a lot of N64 games here for the framerate reason, when you are used to at least 25 fps 5-10 is pretty awful.

To the person who said Mario 64, you should be shot.

I'd also have to add that the PS2 GTA games are going to age incredibly badly. They look horrible and even looked crap when they were released. The driving engine is great but the AI and on foot shooting sections are absolutely atrocious and have been surpassed by games already. Only for the fact that GTA offers so much more than the competition it hasn't been surpassed.

harsh, all the gta games are good fun, they were never graphics based except for the new game by the looks of things. the humour, classic missions, characters(best one so far, tommy vercetti!), references etc, all these wont grow old.

TheDoc

gta was always content over looks?

it always looked ****e, even when it first came out

and i remember they brought out a robocop game and blasted its graphics and i sat there thinking" that has gta's graphics"

corcaigh07

i think shenmue is aging quite badly now, not so much the graphics because they are still terrific but more the movement of ryo(how many times did you get unnecessarily stuck or frustated especially in the first game), the voice acting is crude especially the english dub of the orginal, some of the basic objectives, the lack of extra things to do(there is some like gambling, fighting and arcade) which make particular sections quite boring. playing the 4th disc of shenmue 2 on dreamcast was tedious at best at the time, now self eye gouging is more entertaining!

i absolutely adore shenmue and would dearily love to play the third game but a simple port of shenmue 3 on dreamcast(not confirmed made but surely is) to next-gen with polished graphics would make a disappointing game as we are used to more now.

CiDeRmAn

Like anything retro, be it cars, comics or games, for example, there is an initial shock of encountering something that does not quite conform to the current norm, the innovations that have evolved over the years that we have come to expect being as yet absent or perhaps only new in the chosen area of interest.
In games this can extend to gameplay issues, things we have come to expect, like shield recharge instead if health packs, two weapon rules, and the other more physical demonstrations like graphics and control issues.
But, that said, once you can get past these things, when you allow yourself to slip back into the character of the game, getting back into the "Zone" as it were, you can get back those feelings when you played these games while they were the best there was.

That way we can still enjoy Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Mario 64, Ridge Racer, Daytona and al the rest.
The problem really lies on whether the gameplay or the graphics were the hook in the 1st place.
If the graphics was the thing to draw you in, then the game will definitely be a disappointment as the world has moved on, for example the original Wipeout.
If it was gameplay, like Robotron, DonkeyKong, Rollcage 2 on the PSone even, then it will still be a pleasure to play today.

The other issue is if the playing of retro games is in fact a nostalgic endevour or a desire to play something fun regardless of age.
Nostalgia, the desire to recapture the joy of a remembered youth must be the No.1 reason and can indeed lead to heartache, when you pop your beloved Nes fave onto and emu on the PC and realise it doesn't light your candle like it used to.
But if you can let yourself go and just have some fun, well, then the likes of 3D Deathchase or I-Ball, Wipeout 2097, Ridge Racer Revolution or Virtua Racing 32X can still have a place.

Might I say all of these games are best played on the original hardware, playing retro games on a 360, using the same pad as you played Bioshock or Forza 2 just won't ever give you the right vibe.

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV

Duke nukem aged badly :P

and to the fella who said ff7 is bad compared to 10 and 12. the gameplay of ff7 has yet to be matched from 8-12 . graphics of course are not half as good but its all about the gameplay for me. if i could get my hand on ff7 and a ps1 i'd gladly finish it again.

Brianb8802

Starfox for the snes

CiDeRmAn

Starfox, I reckon is still a good blast, especially if it is the NTSC version you are playing, it's faster, you see, than the PAL released Starwing, which was much choppier.
I will concede, however, that StuntRace FX has dated badly, too many polygons, not enough grunt in the SuperFX chip.
On the other hand I reckon Virtua Racing has ageed quite well on the Megadrive, the developers not sacrificing speed or framerate and making a much better arcade conversion in the process.

zuchum

the original goldeneye is extremely dated,simply due to the old stylee controls

johnny_ultimate

PS1 / N64 era games have aged worst in my experience: Goldeneye, Tomb Raider and other games using early 3D engines in particular have been rendered borderline unplayable at this point. Its strange that they have aged far worse than any of the classic SNES era games, but I think its because 2D ages considerably better (and also the fact that there are very,very few 2D games released these days - never taking advantage of new technology - with the exceptions of the odd release from Treasure, Square Enix, or an XBLA/PSN port).

OK-Cancel-Apply

Quake 2 - bland pile of pants. It looked good at the time, as that's when stuff like bilinear filtering was coming to the fore. But now, it looks ****e and the gameplay is extremely boring and wussy.

As for the original Doom - timeless classic.

krudler

i think 3d games have aged a lot worse than 2d, take for example, Goldeneye and Super Mario World, Goldeneye has horrific flat textures and sprites and everything looks like someone smeared vaseline over your tv, Mario World still looks like it did the day it was released, and plays as well too, nothing wrong with 4 player goldeneye for $hits n giggles but 2D games age better imo

Mr E

Last Ninja was a game I absolutely adored when it came out in 1987. I got it for Nintendo's Virtual Console on Thursday night and its bloody horrible. Controls are awful....

Damn Nintendo for not doing demos.

Sherifu

Duke Nukem games.

AceofSpades001

Sherifu wrote: »

Duke Nukem games.

Ditto.

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV wrote: »

and to the fella who said ff7 is bad compared to 10 and 12. the gameplay of ff7 has yet to be matched from 8-12 . graphics of course are not half as good but its all about the gameplay for me. if i could get my hand on ff7 and a ps1 i'd gladly finish it again.

The gameplay of 12 was pretty good I thought, the fight system was way better, even though the storyline didn't match 7. But back on topic...


The Old Command and Conquers look brutal now as well. I loved them, but we have C&C 3 now to give us our fix.:D

CiDeRmAn

Yet I still like the occasional game of Dune2 Battle for Arrakis on the Pc, go figure!

Retr0gamer

Have to agree with the guy who said Quake 2, It's horrendous in single player these days. The AI is and was atrocious and the over use of coloured lighting which was the big technological advance then makes the game look gaudy and crappy especially the over use of brown.

The reason that 2D games from the 16-bit period haven't aged is that by that time 2D gaming really had already been perfected by the end of the 8-bit period. The 16-bit period really just combined the polished 2D gameplay with gorgeous 2D artwork. 3D gaming still really hasn't reached it's pinnacle in gameplay terms although I believe we are getting close.

CiDeRmAn

Certainly games like Ico, SOTC, Okami, Killer7 and No More Heroes all point to a world of 3D gaming that doesn't feel limited by the pursuit of photorealism that seems to occupy to many devs these days.
And despite some 2D games on 16bit consoles looking pretty great, many were dreadful and "perfecting" the sprite based style has meant few innovations in that realm are considered.

MooseJam

carmegeddon has aged pretty badly, I used to love that game now it´s pure ****e, never had any framerate issues with goldeneye so don´t know what the earlier posts were about, what were you playing it on

Retr0gamer

MooseJam wrote: »

never had any framerate issues with goldeneye so don´t know what the earlier posts were about, what were you playing it on

On an N64. The framerate is about 10 fps tops and drops dramatically regularly. Rare have even said in a few interviews that they overestimated the power of the N64 when making this game since they never had a proper N64 dev kit until a few months before it was finished resulting in the poor framerete performance and said that they didn't mess much with the engine at all for perfect dark since it pushed the N64 to it's limits already.

MooseJam

I´m amazed at that, like I said framerates never seemed like an issue, maybe I just hadn´t experience of anything better so I didn´t notice how bad it was, would love to try it now and see what it´s like, maybe I´d get a big surprise

Malice

I played the original Wing Commander recently for the first time in years and I came away quite disappointed. Time has certainly not been kind to the rotated/scaled bitmap graphics and the controls were far more sluggish that I remember. I guess the bar for space-based gaming wasn't quite as high in 1990 (no X-Wing, no TIE Fighter, no Freespace) .

yoyo

FEAR. I remember when it came out and the graphics were quite good (although repetitive ), well looking at FEAR now or even the expansions and Condemned 2 show this engine really doesnt cut it too much these days in the graphics dept.

Nick

Sarky

I loved FEAR when it first came out, scared the pants off me. I played through a second time recently and hated it, all the surprises are gone and what's left is just a fairly decent shooter with sometimes cunning AI.

Goodshape

chin_grin wrote: »

The original DooM series. Fantastic games, but now dated compared to the moist-trouser inducing Doom 3

Blasphemy. I'd sooner play Doom 1/2 today than I would Doom3.

And Quake2 multiplayer is still a fine game.

Pablo Sanchez

Streets of Rage

Maximilian

Connect 2.

Sequels were a bit better, I'll admit.

TinCool

Way of the Exploding Fist on the Commodore 64.

MooseJam

carmageddon really looks crap now, don't know how i ever played it at all

GhostInTheRuins

Because it's a great game maybe?

Epic Tissue

Destruction Derby

MooseJam

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

Because it's a great game maybe?

yea it's a great game alright, just a bit surprised by how it looks, I remember it being good graphically though i suppose it was in it's day, will have to dig it out and give it a go, probably won't work on vista though

Fnz

The Twisted Metal games on the PSone. Not as much fun as I remember.

Sephiroth_dude

grandia on the ps1 has'nt aged very well :-/,pity too,tis such a great game .

Retr0gamer

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

grandia on the ps1 has'nt aged very well :-/,pity too,tis such a great game .

Still looks gorgeous on the saturn, all the textures and 2D sprites are much higher res.

Glydeside white

The age of empire games, on the p.c, they look awful now, compared to when i used to play them for hours on end!! the new ones are ****e, give me rise of nations anyday!

Zillah

IceHawk wrote: »

Half Life. After playing HL2 I went back for a replay, but my god, it looks crap. Can't wait for Black Mesa: Source
People are going to kill me for this, but Final Fantasy 7 and 8 look terrible after playing 10 and 12

I strongly disagree, I think Half Life has aged extremely well.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

yeah, original half life still looks and plays excellent.

well it plays excellent anyway, excellent might be a bit much after having played crysis or cod4

iPoker

not really into games, but would love to play "rockstar ate my hamster"...anyone remember?

Fnz

iPoker wrote: »

not really into games, but would love to play "rockstar ate my hamster"...anyone remember?

... but you are into visting forums dedicated to to stuff you're not into.... that makes my feet happy!

Retr0gamer

Still think Half-Life 1 looks quite nice. Yes the engine has dated incredibly badly but it really did create a fantastic world around it that looked lived in. It also did it in a unique setting unlike most other FPS games that are still using the old sci-fi/WW2/rmodern cliche settings.